Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-01-08
HOW EXPLORERS ARE SURPRISED.
Remarkable Discoveries that Some oil
Them Have Recently Made.

Remarkable Discoveries that Some oil
Them Have Recently Made.
1t happens now and then that an ex-
plorer makes q sensational and wholly
unexpected discovery. Several unique
facts with regard to certain tribes of saw
ages have recently been ascertained. Mr..
w. Montagu Kerr, for instance, has
found among the Makorikori tribe In
Africa, whom he is the first to describe,
gunpowder which they make themselves
for use in the flint lock muskets which
they obtain from native traders.
This tribe live far from the east coast
and quite distance south OF the Zambesi
river. Their gunpowder burns slowly,
and its explosive force is far inferior to
that of ours, but ii answers their purpose
very well. They mix the eiflorescence
Of saltpeter with charcoal, which they
make from the bark of the mufati tree.
This mixture is baked in an earthen pot
for several hours, and then it is pulver-
lied and spread in the sunlight, where it
is left for some time. II is not at all
likely that the Makorikoris, like the Chi
nese, discovered the art Of making gun
powder. Their fathers doubtless learned
il from the Portuguese or from slaves
who had lived among white men on the
coast. We hear strange things once in
while Of African tribes, but it was hardly
to be expected that wholly unknown
tribe, hemmed in by the mountains Of
inner Africa, would be found engaged in
the manufacture of gunpowder.
A few years ago Lieut.. Wissmann came
home and told remarkable story about
tribes he had met with south of the Congo
river, who were far more civilized than
most African peoples. His report is now
fully confirmed by the travels in the same
region of Leuts Kund and Tappenbeck.
They found last year, between the Congo
and the Saukuu rivers, many street vii
lages, with large, gable rooted huts stand
ing squarely on either side Of the street.
inhabited by brown ish red. fine looking
people. These villagers have advanced
notions of comfort. They sleep on wooden
bedsteads, instead Of on the floor. Their
homes are the largest yet found in Africa,
and are kept clean. Their streets are
about fifty yards wide, sometimes two or
three miles long, and are carefully swept.
Refuse Of all sorts is taken away and
thrown into pits dug for the purpose.
They are clever hunters, and train their
dogs To follow game. They carve pestles
out Of ivory for pounding manioc, and
they have astonishing skill as wood carv-
ers. Lieut.. Kund brought home two
wooden cups representing negro heads,
which might readily be taken for Euro
pean products, owing TO their superior
workmanship. Behind the houses of this
populous Zenge tribe are neatly kept
gardens and plantations of bananas
When Lieut.. Holm visited an isolated
settlement of East Greenlanders two
years ago he was astonished to find
among these natives, of whom the world
had never heard. walrus spears of which
the handles were made of wood, al
though no timber grew there, and the
points of hoop iron. He ascertained that
the sea currents had brought these USE
full commodities TO the poor Esquimau in
the shape Of wreckage and iron bound
boxes.
i III mas recently been SHOWN that IN
parts of Chill where European trees and
plants have been introduced the native
fora is actually disappearing and the i'm
ported vegetation is ilourishing in its
place. Explorers arc often surprised TO
see the familiar plants and fruits Of other
regions growing as exotics where they
did not dream of finding them. Kerr
discovered the tomato in the far interior
Of Africa, and Schweinfurth was much
astonished to lind tobacco in the heart of
the continent, where it was raised and
enjoyed by natives who had never heard
Of its American home, though the name
by which the weed was known among
some tribes was doubtless derived from
our name for it.-New York Sun.